Notes 85-86-87-88

[arnold1@mindspring.com]

On 1997-04-10pianotech said to arnold1@mindspring.com
   >To All On List:
   >Today I tuned a piano which last tuned Jan. 11, 1971. No other
   >tuner had = tuned the piano either.  The piano was flat about 44
   >cents except for = the last four keys which were slightly sharp. So
If I were you, I would take credit for it being only that flat
after that long, I think that is amazing!

   >Don't tuners who have a hearing problem tune flat. I've known a few
   >who = didn't hear these high notes at all. One tuner about 78 years
   >old broke = strings frequently and became totally frustrated.
I don't know if I have a hearing problem or not, but I have noticed when I
have been tuning in the store, and there is an unusually high "competition
factor" from more than one keyboard or piano being played at one time, a lot
of times when I go back and check my work as I am finishing the piano, those
notes that I tuned during the "high competition" period are sharper than I
would normally set them.  That must mean that I can't hear them, due to the
outside interference, as well as I can later, so tune them sharp in order to
hear them.  But when I am tuning them, I never perceive that "I can't hear
them" at all, they just sound flat until I get them tuned to what I think
they should be, then discover that they are really too sharp when it is
quieter.

   >wouldn't dare offend = anyone tuning aurally. But I do question if
   >any can beat the SAT in = octave seven. I can't.=20
   >Sy Zabrocki
   >only4zab@imt.net

I am curious to know how these notes that your SAT says are correct sound to
you.  Do they sound flat?  Do they sound flat when you play one of them with
its octive in the middle of the piano, or with a chord in the middle of the
piano, this top note being the sixth in that chord "that test will, most of
the time, have you stretching octives a little more than the triple octive
test)?  Has anybody complained about these top notes sounding flat, as
compared to the way you use to tune them?

I ask these questions for the following reason:  I am not prejudiced against
the SAT, and indeed, if I could see to use one of them, I am very sure I
would have one. But nobody listens to a piano with a SAT, they
listen with their ears.  I admit that 88 cents sharp sounds "too sharp" to
me for these top notes, but I have found that they have to be tuned
"sharper" on smaller, or more poorly scaled pianos to sound good, when
played with the middle section, than they do on larger, better pianos.  I
have encountered pianos where these notes were tuned as much as a half step
sharp, and, indeed, I think that is too sharp.  But I really would let my
ears be the ultimate test, and, within reason, let them be the final judge,
almost regardless of what the SAT says.  Then, I would program that
particular tuning into it for that particular piano, and when I went back to
tune it again, that is when the SAT would be of value.  But I would check
that tuning with my ears again, and perhaps make minor refinements each
time.  I have been told that the "problem" with the SAT is that it is "too
accurate" for the "average piano."  Then, when somebody comes along with his
or her SAT, and just sets everything according to what it says is correct,
never really checking it with their ears, too, the SAT gets a bad reputation
when people find that the top octive of their piano sounds flat to them.

Arnold Schmidt, Raleigh, NC, arnold1@mindspring.com

`[1;36;45mNet-Tamer V 1.05.1 - Test Drive